Friday, October 28, 2011

This title is dedicated to all those who chimed in on our root vegetable gratin video to let me know that a potato is a tuber, and not a root, even though I mentioned that fact in the video and the post! Bless your hearts. ;-)

I know we did a black bean soup not too long ago, but I had a piece of leftover ham that needed to be used up, and this time of year you just can’t have too many soup recipes. In addition to being a proven antidote for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), the recipe is definitely filling enough to serve as a main course.

The version I presented here is a little on the lighter side, but by adding more meat (including bacon, sausage, etc.), and finishing with cheese, you can significantly increase its heartiness.

By the way, if you do want to finish this with some nice sharp cheddar, or perhaps a pepper Jack, do NOT add it until you’ve turned off the heat. Cooking the cheese is never a good thing, unless you want an oil slick floating on the surface of your soup. There will be plenty of residual heat to melt shredded cheese, so turn off the heat, stir it in, and dig in.

If you’re one of these vegetarian types, may I suggest you caramelize some diced mushrooms to a dark meaty brown first, and then proceed with the rest of the procedure as shown. Either way, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

I'm so happy to be going back into another cold season with you. I love these classic soup dishes. Winter soup just makes life so great! Thanks!> Compared to your other soup's this one seems so simple. I... almost... could have thought of it on my own.. but there it is so now I can relax my mind after a long week with no home made soup.... You have made me happy all over again! Cheers to the pizza guy... Next time he gets a $5.

I just made this, though my chunks of ham and veggies are slightly larger. It's fantastic, though I will add some cheddar cheese at the last minute, to appease family members, who have cheese addictions. :)

Hi John! Thanks for the recipe! I have a question though. My SO is allergic to gluten. So could I make the roux using corn starch on this soup? What about other recipes, is flour and and corn starch always interchangeable? Do I need to adjust the measurements?

Hello Chef John!Tonight I made the Ham and Potato soup, but instead of ham I used bacon (I had no ham). Thank you so much for the recipe and the video. I was so excited to make this soup and it turned out perfect and absolutely delicious. My husband who is not a big soup eater, said it was top notch. Thanks again and I love your videos.

I gave this a shot, been making soup at least once a week, this sounded great. I sub'd fresh shiitake's for celery (can't stand celery..).. I expected it to be just above average, but can honestly say I was amazed and surprised how good it was. Leftovers next day were even better. 2/3 kids approved. Take care..

Just made this soup. It's amazingly good. My husband can't get enough of it. I've made potato soups before including Julia Child's and they were bland. This one has such great flavor! Thank you Chef John. I'm so glad I discovered your website.

Dear Chef John,You will notice some very nice and honest plugs about you and your humorous but highly informative cooking videos on my site, CookingUpaStorminCa.ning.com. I added the video to my collection of about 100 on the site this evening.

I would love for you to join Cooking Up a Storm All Over The World! You are incredible, your recipes are amazing and I would love to meet you one day.

Made this today with leftovers from Christmas dinner. What a fabulous soup!! I added the video and ingredients list to my recipes and this will become a much made soup in my house...thank you so much! Didn't change a thing...

I've made this soup three times in the past two weeks, because we had a ton of ham left over from Christmas - each time it's been SPECTACULAR. Two times I didn't have celery and carrots on hand, so made it without, and to be honest, I liked it better without! Anyway, I added a touch more cayenne than you did and it had an awesome kick to it that was perfect. Thanks so much for another fabulous recipe - and so EASY to make! I've turned several people on to this website, Chef John. They've all become fast fans like I did. You, simply put, rock!

I first saw this on allrecipes.com but it was overridden by a commercial, so I followed a link here. Glad I did! I can't wait to explore more of your videos and recipes based on all the wonderful comments. And, I'll be making this soup today. Was going to make baked potato soup but this looks easier, quicker, and yummy!! I'll be bookmarking your site. Thanks!

It seems that Winter's JUST begun this past week in Southern Ontario and I was looking for a warm, hearty feel-good recipe for family coming over for dinner tonight. I came across this on allrecipes.com and I'm sooo excited to make it! I just had breakfast and I'm already hungry for it. I've already bookmarked your page for many more future references.

Wow, what a great recipe! I am eating my 4th bowl of the ham and potato soup as I type. This one is going to be a winter favorite, for sure. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes; I look forward to exploring many if not all of them!Cheers.

I take it I could throw some navy beans or white beans in this also? I just found your website from allrecipes and tried your garlic ginger wings.. ate 12 of them yesterday and they were finger licking AWESOME. Thanks!

Hi John, Had left over ham that I needed to use and it was a rainy day so I thought soup would be good. I Googled Ham and potato soup, and much to my delight, In this search, I came across your web site. What a great discovery!! Used this recipe and served it to my husband and some friends who dropped by and everyone loved it. I can see great versatility with this base and all kinds of substitutions.

One suggestion is that you add a recipe box on your website so you can add your favorite recipes to it

Just made this tasty rich soup.... you gonna ask why would I make this kind of soup in mid of summer season? Because our summer this year in germany is well... Cold :) so thanks John for this nice recipe. Going to make it as well in our mild winter :D

I found your recipe and video for this amazing soup over a year ago, and it was an instant family hit. My wife begs me to make it as soon as the weather turns the slightest bit cool. I'm a competent cook, but after years of preparing and perfecting my own recipes and dishes, I have never had the enthusiastic reaction to my creations that your recipe inspires. Of course, they are all correct: this soup is by far my favorite dish to make and to eat as well. I have learned from and enjoyed this site so much that I refer everyone who has the slightest interest in cooking to it. Usually one taste of this soup is all it takes to convince them that this site is worth its weight in gold.

I have made this soup twice already and it was a winner both times. I made the vegetarian version with mushrooms instead of the ham. So great! The first time my guests kept asking for more and left with the recipe and your website in their email, then my husband asked again to make it for him. My favorite soup for sure. Chef John you are a keeper!

Holy moly! This is amazing! I am trying to introduce soups to my son who has some feeding issues. So, i sauteed the veggies by themselves. Ccoked the potatoes separately. Then i put the veggies into a soup pot, made the roux and added the broth. Meanwhile, fried the chopped ham steak in the veggie saute pan. When the broth was all mixed in, I pureed all, including about half the potatoes. Then i added in the rest of the potatoes and ham and the water the potatoes cooked in. It came out perfect! I used amaranth flour and ghee since we are gluten and dairy free. It tastes like it has cream and cheese in it though. Soooo good. I really think it could even take pureed broccoli and cauliflower and some peas. But my son isnt quite there yet! So good! I really want to thank you for such a healthy and yummy recipe for REAL food that fits our dietary requirements. A rare gem. I will have to make some of your other recipes. You have quite a following.

Thanks...by the way, made your oven baked eggs. I wanted to lick the plate but we had guests! Oh my...now I know what to make for Father's Day coming up. And of course my son will be sooo happy it's fathers day! Thanks chef...keep um coming!

Thank you for sharing this recipe. I just made it for my family and they love it I didn't use cream though because my daughter can't have it. So I used soy milk instead but it came out really tasty as well.

I just made this soup for the second time today and realized I had never commented on the results. It is FANTSTIC (both times)! I followed the recipe exactly but the second time I used a thick slice of baked deli ham (1/3 inch) and was not quite as "hammey" as when I used the type you used in the video. This is a perfect, comforting fall-winter soup!

I just wanted to say that this potato soup is "lick the bowl clean" good. I made it, today, with just a few, slight, variations. I didn't have any ham, but I did have a half pound end piece of some imported prosciutto, which I bought for a song. I diced it up a little smaller than you did the ham because it's not quite as tender. Also, I didn't have any Yukon Gold potatoes, so I did the next best thing a person in Boston would do. I used my trusty old friend, the Maine potato. I hardly ever peel Maine potatoes because The peel is very thin and a lot of the potatoe's nutrients get tossed in the trash with the peel. I just diced them up and tossed them in. I noticed that in the video you put the diced potatoes in water to keep them from turning brown. In my experience with potato soup, I just dice them up as I'm adding them to the soup. This cuts down on an extra step and it also adds the extra starch from the potatoes, that would have gone down the drain with the water, to the soup to make it creamier. The soup came out excellent and because of the prosciutto, I didn't even need to add any salt.

The best part comes next. I went and brought a bowl of soup to my mother, who also thought the soup was very tasty. To my surprise, she had just finished baking bread and about the only thing that I can imagine that could add to this soup is a nice big ol' piece of crusty Tuscan bread.

I just had to write back. Tonight, I finished off the last bowl of the ham and potato soup that I made this past weekend. But when I took it out of the fridge, I didn't reheat it. Instead, I took out the hand blender and pureed the soup cold and then poured it in to a soup bowl. I then added a big dollop of sour cream. It was awesome, especially after the flavors had a chance to meld for a few days. I'll bet this would be great on a hot summer day. Vichyssoise, eat your heart out!

I know this is going to sound "off" since this is a potato and ham soup; however, I substituted the ham for left over turkey, and it was delicious. So if you're trying to figure out something new to do with left over Christmas turkey, follow this recipe but dice up, and use your leftover turkey instead. You won't be disappointed!

I've been lurking on your website for quite some time now. I love your videos but I never actually made anything from your recipes until now. This simple soup is simply delicious. To quote my girlfriend: "the best soup I've ever made".

I shamelessly took all the credit, but I'll give it to you the next time :)

Have made this many times, always wonderful. Tonight (who says soup is just for winter?) it's even better because I'm having it with rosemary/olive oil bread and a glass of wine, alone in my room while my husband takes care of all four kiddos. Night off!

Has anyone done this soup with the mushrooms in place of ham? That sounds delicious also.

Thank you so much, Chef John...I followed this recipe to the letter except I added a fresh grating of pareggiano and a half can of sweet corn at the end. It turned out phenomenal. A friend of mine (who is also a professional chef) tried it and asked ME for the recipe! I got to be the kitchen hero (at least until I told her that the real genius behind this crazy-good chowder was you...) You rock - love you - thank you - muaw!

Hi Chef, Just saw you video. Few questions for you: can I use fresh milk instead of heavy cream? Also, substitute paprika instead of cayenne? Kinda tight on the budget right now and we have a lot of left-over ham for Thanksgiving.

I have made this soup numerous times and I never get tired of it. I did modify it a little however, I added a can of white navy beans and after I used an immersion blender these beans fit perfectly in this soup. I just finished making it again and threw in some cauliflower that I didn't want to waste, came out great.

I love the cold weather recipes, but alas, I live in SoCal and we dont do the four seasons thing. Down here we have about 1.5 seasons; Summer, and Almost Summer. My opportunities for a comforting, hearty meal on a "cold winter evening a pretty slim.....

Hey Wayne Singlair, I'm not Chef John! But I would recommend if you make it ahead of time or freeze it, to put the final spices and cream just in after you have heated it up again. (so leave it out fist) I will be putting this soup in, in my soup cook off at work tomorrow. Will see what will happen... Many greetings Joern

Greetings Chef! I'll has ya' done knows dat' I done made me my first potato(e) and ham soupey! And it be darned good! Even my finicky lady-friend done claimed 'dat I done did a good job! ...Especially with the clean-up in the kitchen. Yep... I be purse-whipped all day long. Thanks! You're da' best!!

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I have now made it twice in a 4 week period and I think my family loved it more the 2nd time. It's so easy to make and just the perfect thing on a colder, rainy day (something to be celebrated in California!) The flavors are just fantastic and I found I didn't need to make it with cream if I wanted something less fattening. Milk or Fat Free Half & Half works well. And because I like a thick and hearty soup, I used some cornstarch to thicken it up at the end.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how happy your soup made my family of 5.